Many young acrobats from across China have gathered in Wuqiao, Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province, with one shared goal: to dazzle audiences with their talents and stunt skills.
They usually starts to train at an early age, shouldering the hopes and support of their families and teachers to become successful performers. We followed three of these young performers to show you how incredibly talented they are.
Slack-wire walking young talent: Zhang Hao
One of Zhang Hao's signature stunts is to perform the splits on the slack wire. /CGTN
Fourteen-year-old Zhang Hao started to train on the slack wire as a boy aged 6. With his excellent balancing skills, Zhang Hao was the best among his peers when it came to walking and performing stunts on the slack wire.
Like everybody else, the teenager couldn't balance on the soft and bouncy slack wire at first. He then followed his teacher's guidance and practiced on the ground before attempting to take to the slack wire assisted by guide ropes.
When Zhang Hao was growing up, he was passionately obsessed about acquiring the skills to take this nerve-racking balancing act to the next level. The boy later added stunt moves to his routines. He dreams of thrilling crowds of spectators one day with his talent.
Zhongfan, the millennium-old acrobatic art form with a young inheritor
With nerves of steel to overcome the many difficulties faced during training, Han Jiacheng has become stronger and more skillful at performing stunts. /CGTN
Zhongfan, or flagpole balancing, is one of the oldest acrobatics skills in China. Han Jiacheng, a 15-year-old boy from Cangzhou has to have nerves of steel to overcome the many difficulties faced during training.
Lifting, balancing and throwing a bamboo pole that weighs more than 5 kilograms, a performer has to use their hands, back, jaw and even their forehead to perform these complex stunts.
Zhongfan flagpoles can measure up to five meters high and are usually decorated with patterns of clouds and dragons that hold auspicious meaning. With evidence suggesting this acrobatic art form can be traced back more than a thousand years, Zhongfan now has a new generation of inheritors.
Acrobats from Cangzhou perform a flagpole balancing act at the 2023 Spring Festival Gala on January 21, 2023. /China Media Group
Contortionist girls showcase their graceful moves
Ai Yifan, 14, joined the Cangzhou Acrobatics Troupe four years ago, and regularly practices contortion and acrobatics with her peers. They train for 3 to 4 hours every day to hone their best and most graceful moves in the hope of one day shining on the big stage.
Ai and her teammates receive the most advanced training and coaching currently available. Bending, twisting and doing handstands, these young performers hope to impress audiences with their most graceful moves.
Their standout stunt involves the performers stacking up on top of one another and holding a pose. However, in order to successfully master this pose, painful falls during practice are unavoidable. One of their teachers, Zhao Changhong from the Cangzhou Acrobatic Troupe, says they often take on the role of the students' parents. "We treat our students just like we do our own children, making sure they feel our warmth," he said.
Young acrobats practice stunts in Wuqiao, Cangzhou. /CGTN
Acrobatic art has a strong foundation in Cangzhou. The city is renowned as the birthplace of Chinese acrobatics. Young or old, people here often possess astonishing acrobatic skills and have combined this time-honored folk art with renewed creativity.
Listed among other national-level intangible heritage items in 2006, Wuqiao acrobatics is not only a household name domestically but also internationally, where it is attracting many foreigners to come to China and study this traditional Chinese art form and eventually share it with the wider world.
The city hosts the annual Wuqiao International Circus Festival where professional acrobats from across the globe travel to China to showcase their skills.